Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

E60 / E61 (2004 - 2010) BMW 5-Series E60 Sedan was first seen in the Unites States in the fall of 2003 with a 2004 Model Year designation. The E61 wagon followed shortly there after. The E60/E61 5 series is now available as a 528i, 528xi, 535i, 535xi, 550i and a 535xi sports wagon! -- View the E60 Wiki

hi guys,
I had some damage done to my car and am in a position to replace the front bumper. i previously installed the m5tech bumper and liked it a lot. I'm not sure i lvoed it and would strongly consider putting the mtech front bumper on instead if I could find some decent pics of both.

Is there a difference? Umnitza has a pic on their site and I honestly can't tell the difference. Any help is appreciated.

They are very similar, but the M5 has mesh covering the entire airdam, wheras the Mtech leaves a gap on both sides. M5 also doesn't come with fog lights, though I think they can be retrofitted somehow.
Anothher small detail is that the pointy tips or jags below the center airdam point invards on the M5 and are angled outwards on the Mtech.

Normally only the M5 sedan comes with the M5 bumper, all other 5s come with the Mtech. Speaking of BMW production line.
That's one reason i went with Mtech, didn't want to turn my car into a poseur M5. No debadging either.

i like the look of the Mtech front bumper and will probably go with that but ive been told that it is not compatible with the night vision camera. Since Umnitza responded in this thread I figured id ask the question sorry if I thread jack....... but is there a provision on either the M5 or Mtech bumper for the factory night vision camera and PDC? the night vision camera is mounted in the lower grill toward the driver side of the car.
some good pics of the camera can be found at this link

there are no provisions in the aftermarket for the brackets to accommodate the night vision. You will need to get a night vision lower grill piece to make your night vision fit onto the Mtech bumper - that is your best bet - and simplest.

For the PDC, that's not an issue, we have bumpers of all PDC and non-PDC fitment.

[QUOTE=umnitza;7129660]there are no provisions in the aftermarket for the brackets to accommodate the night vision. You will need to get a night vision lower grill piece to make your night vision fit onto the Mtech bumper - that is your best bet - and simplest.

For the PDC, that's not an issue, we have bumpers of all PDC and non-PDC fitment.[/QUOTE

Yeah, like Umnitza stated, the OEM MTech bumper lower grille piece is 3 separate pieces: the frame with the center grille integrated, plus a left and right waffle panel right next to the brake ducts on either side of the center grille. if you have adaptive cruise and night vision, all you need to do is change out the waffle panels for ones with holes in them for the lenses. Runs about $40 each. I looked at rockauto.com and they have the plain ones like in the pic for $16, but not the ones with the lense cutouts.

Since you are local to us - relatively speaking, you can drop by any time, we can show you the differences up close.

We always recommend the M5tech but in some cases, depending on the car, the MTech would look better.

I would, I just don't have time. My autobody guy will be contacting you next week to ship to the northbay. If you guys ever get time just post up side by side pics of the two bumpers so we can settle the (my ) confusion once and for all. BTW - I also asked him to order the black kidney grills as well. hopefully he remembers...

The differences are incredibly subtle to me but that side by side really helps. I could honestly be happy with either one. Is there a difference in cost? That doesn't matter since the other guys insurance is paying for it but... is there a difference?

I'm assuming most e60's have the brake air ducts...do the stock ones work with this?

The stock brake air ducts don't work well. Order these parts if you want a good fit (these are the factory Mtech brake ducts).
51117896587
51117896588

Also, the bumper cover will fit over the bumper best if you have the proper foam pieces that sit behind the bumper cover and provide the foundation for the bumper cover. If you use the stock E60 pieces the fit is poor and you will have gaps between the hood and bumper cover unless you carve or shave away some of the foam material, since the inside of the Mtech bumper cover is a different shape than the stock one.

Use these foam pieces for the best fit (my body shop had no patience for shaving, testing, shaving some more etc.):
51117896591
51117896592

You don't have to buy foam unless you buy an 08 bumper for an 04-07 car or vice versa.

And even then, you can just trim the foam (as described above).

Not true. I ordered the 03-07 m-tech for my 2004 545i.
With the stock foam pieces it fit very poorly. After I purchased the correct foam pieces it was a night and day difference.

A body shop professional has neither the time or patience to "whittle" on a foam piece like a hillbilly sitting on a porch whittling a stick. I didn't mind spending the extra money to get the correct parts that fit.

I don't understand the resistance of Umnitza to give out the correct brake duct and foam piece part numbers to customers so they don't have to do wrestle with the parts.

Better yet, which you are molding the bumper cover in China, mold the foam pieces and brake ducts and charge a little more but sell the whole kit "ready to go". It would take a lot of the hassle out of it.

You point is noted.
One point of note, we don't make the bumpers in China, we make them with high quality Germany injection molding machines using high end polymers (like those from GE etc.)
China is known for making plastics out of recycled parts so they are less resilient and strong.

You point is noted.
One point of note, we don't make the bumpers in China, we make them with high quality Germany injection molding machines using high end polymers (like those from GE etc.)
China is known for making plastics out of recycled parts so they are less resilient and strong.

In the plastics world they talk about "resins" not polymers.

There is nothing wrong with molding plastics in China or anywhere else for that matter. Where a part is molded says nothing about the process. Some of the most sophisticated plastic molded parts in the world are done in China and Taiwan. Try the iPhone case, or Laptop computers, or television cabinets.

Whether the part is molded in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong or Miami, if a high quality mold (well designed with proper drafts, cooling, reliefs, wall thicknesses and knockoffs is run in any decent quality injection molding machine (doesn't have to be German - US, Japanese and now even Chinese are making high quality molding machines) is run using virgin engineered resins the part will be exactly the same.

I agree if you use poor quality material or too high a percentage of regrind you loose the properties of the plastic.

I examined the part your company manufactures before it was painted, and hung not once but twice on my car (due to the improper fit of the foam pieces. I was highly impressed at the quality of the part. And the personnel at the body shop said in comparison to other aftermarket bumper covers they had used it was far above the average product.

There were no short shot, no visible knock-out marks, no abrasion suggesting the part was hanging up in the tool and no warping, suggesting the cooling is well designed and possibly that you are using fixtures to hang the part on after it is kicked out of the mold. That is a big piece of plastic and the base for that tool is a monster.

Good part but bad presentation. Your website is horrible and confusing. And what is all the mention about polypropylene? It is everywhere on your website. Whoever wrote the copy knows nothing about selling engineering plastic products.